We got some good news today. Many of our field workers are going to get the Covid vaccine in the next few days. Certainly these folks aren’t picking food crops but I think the concern is that they are some of the most at risk people in our community.
I also got good news late today - I was called to come get the vaccine. Done!
The fog is so dense this morning that it is dropping like raindrops. It is supposed to get to 73 this afternoon.
Starting to feel pretty screwed. No rain. None coming in the next 10 days.
Trying not to be a bummer with every post. Walked super dog today and went down some of the cover crop rows. It’s really looking nice for this time of year. Peas are putting out trendrils and maybe 8" tall. You can see the beans down there but my guess is warmer soil temps will spur them on. Weather Underground is showing something next weekend…so we keep going and hope. Cheers. Pics of cover crop next time.
We are expecting a decent amount of rain by this weekend - it’s been about 90 over the past few days so we are in for a major change.
To answer the question about pruning above, the largest vineyards have certainly begun pruning due to how long it will take to complete the process. I have seen some smaller ones do the same already - or at least the part of them I can see from the road.
It seems most try to wait a little later - until February - to try to avoid the possibility of the ‘f’ word . . .
And just as an aside, I was speaking to someone in DC today who said the cherry trees were beginning to blossom - in January!!! Strange daze indeed.
Cheers.
MD here.
Daffodils and hyacinths broke ground the 1st week in Jan. It is the norm now.
As promised I pic of Zip the super dog standing in the cover crop.
1 Like
I’m new here to the WB message board and farthest thing from a vineyard manager/grower/wine maker (I can drink the hell out of the stuff though), but I wanted to tell you all that I love this thread (minus some of the bad rain news of course).
I find it fascinating to hear the people that make the fine nectar of the gods discussing growing conditions, the weather and other things that affect the job that you all do so well. Good luck and good fortune to you all during the 2021 growing season and I hope the rain situation in CA improves for those depending on it.
Thank you and cheers!
Welcome Tyson!
Enjoying a 27 degree morning in my jammies while I get caught up on some indoor chores. I heard it was over 80 in the inland areas the other day. Luckily we topped out around 72 here in Anderson Valley.
Buds still tight as we are ahead on our pruning season. If the drought continues and we don’t get rained out, we might go to 4 day weeks so we don’t finish too soon. We do have a few fields that were going to modify the trellis by adding a wire so we do have some other tasks to do.
I’m in Southern CA, North West Orange County to be specific, and we were in the high 80’s and low 90’s towards the end of last week and over the weekend. Now we have are expected to be in the low 70’s today and will dip into the mid to low 60’s going into next weekend with a 30-40% chance of rain every day next week. Hopefully that means our Northern CA grape growers will have an even better shot at rain next week.
Welcome, Tyson. You don’t need to be involved in the growing businsess to participate here. This is where we growers and sometimes winemakers let others know what the new vintage is looking like. And feel free to ask questions!
Thank you Merrill, I appreciate it!
So I’ve heard along the way in my wine travels that drought can actually help some vintages, specifically when coming out of an extended drought. Is that a general rule or does it depend on many factors?
Well, well, well the promise of the famed ‘atmospheric river’ or ‘pineapple express’ (whichever you like to call it) is setting up. Apparently the first part of it will be quite cold on Tuesday with snow predicted on the mountains around the Bay Area. Having only received 8" so far for the season (and zero snowpack in the Sierras) it’s possible we could see up to 4" over a 4-5 day stretch.
1 Like
There are so many variables out there in the vineyard that it would be difficult to pin the outcome of a vintage on just one thing - like drought.
Forecasts for burn areas from the 2020 fires are 4-6” in many places. We will likely see debris flows this week, potentially quite dangerous ones. Really not looking forward to driving through the Mayacamas mountains to work. Happy for the rain, but nervous about its geophysical impacts. Flood-prone areas in Sonoma County such as the region around Guerneville and the Laguna including eastern Sebastopol could be hit again as in 2019.
Ben I was thinking the same thing particularly about the Santa Cruz Mountains as the forecast is for up to 12 inches. Hope everyone stays safe.
37 and rain with wind. We’ve had .75" so far. Drove over 253 from Ukiah today around 2:00 and it was 34 and snowing. Expectations are dropping for me as I’m not happy with forecasting info. Hope I’m wrong.
Also worried about Santa Cruz Mountains (and also other areas). They had some pretty big fires and are expecting biblical levels of rain as mentioned above.
-Al
A foot of snow and counting. At this rate we could get 3ft+.
Paul